The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-09-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Discourse on the Secret Of Suo.
cess in Lite.
The Usos Of Adversely IN Refining Mans
Metal and Leading Him to Higher
Pians-Tho Universe tho Rsfisx
u Almighty Thought.

Brooklyn ana roOpeneu JUG AuucTnoo,o'
which has been thoroughly renovated. The
subject of his first sermon was "The Prime
Minister" his text being:
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph: See have
set thea over all the land Of Egypt-Genesis |
xiii, II.
DR.. TaImage said: You can not keep . |
GOOD man down. God has decreed for |
him a certain elevation to which he must |
attain. He will bring him through |
Though IL cost him thousand worlds. !
There are men constantly in trouble lest |
they,shnll not be appreciated. Every man |
comes in tbs end to be valued at just what |
he is worth. How often You sec men turn
out all their forces to crush one man or |
set Of men. How do they succeed? No
better than did the government that tried
to crush Joseph, q scripture character
upon which we speak to-day. 1t would
be an IL suit to suppose that you were not
all fam liar with the life of Joseph; how
his jea.ou brothers threw him into the
nit, but seeing a caravan OF Arabian m er.
chants moving along on their camels with
spices and gums that loaded the air with
aroma, sold their brother to these mer-
chants. who carried him down into Egypt;
how Joseph was sold to Potiphar,
n man of influence and office;
how by his integrity he raised himself to
high position in the realm, until under the
false charge of vile wretch he was
hurled into the penitentiary; how in
prison he commanded respect and conf
dence; how by the Interpretation OF
Pharoah's dream he was freed and be-
came the chief man in government, Che
Bismarck of his time; how in time OF
famine Joseph had the control OF store.
house which he had filed during the seven
wears of plenty: how, when his brothers
who had thrown him into the pit and sold
him into captivity applied for corn, he
sent them home with their beasts borne
down under the heft Of the corn sacks;
how the sin against their brother which
had so long been hidden came out at last
and was returned by that brothers for
giveness and kindness, an illustrious
triumph of Christian principle.
Learn from this story, in the first place,
that the world is compelled to honor Chris
tian character. Potiphar was only man
of the world, vet Joseph rose in his esti-
nation until all the affairs Of that great
| house were committed to his charge. From
| this servant no honors or condolences
were withheld. When Joseph was in
| prison he soon won the heart of the keep
err, and, though placed there for being a
scoundrel, he soon convinced the jailer
| that he was an innocent and Trustworthy
| man. and, released from close confine-
ment, he became general superintendent
of prison affairs. Wherever Joseph was
| placed-whether a servant in the house OF
| Potiphar or a prisoner in the pentent:ary
| he became the first man everywhere,
| and is an illustration Of the truth I lay
| down, that the world is compelled to honor
Christian character.
There are those who affect TO despiss a
religious life. They speak OF it as a sys-
TEN of phlebotomy, by which man is
bled of all his courage and nobility. They
saw he has bemeaned himself. They pre-
tend to have no more confidence IN him
since his conversion than before his
conversion. But all that is hypocrisy.
1t is impossible for any man not
to admire and confide in Christian who
shows that he has really become child OF
God and is what he processes to be. You
can not despise a son or a daughter OF the
Lord God Almighty. OF course half-and
half religious character wins no approba-
tion, Redwald, the King of the Saxons,
after Christian baptism had two affairs
one for the worship of God, and the other
|
a contempt for such men, for mere preten-
sion of religion, but when you behold the
excellency Of Jesus Christ come out in the
life of one of his disciples. all that there
is good and noble in your soul rises up
into admiration. Though that Christian
be as far beneath you in estate as the
Egyptian slave of whom we are discuss
ing. by an irrevocable law of our nature
Potiphar and Pharoah will always esteem
Joseph.
Chrysostom, when threatened with
death by Eudoxia, the Empress, sem
word to her, saving: ''Go tell her that
fear nothing but SIM" Such nobility OF
character will always be applauded
There was something in Agripp,
. and Felix which demanded theil
respect for Paul, the rebel against govern
, ment. doubt not that they would will
lingly have yielded their Office and dignity
for the thousandth part of that true heroisn
, which beamed in the eye and beat in tn
heart Of the unconquerable apostle. Tn
infidel and wording are compelled to homo
in their hearts, though they may no
eu,ogize with their lips, q Christian firm
in persecution, cheerful in poverty, trust
fu! in losses, triumphant in death.
find christian men in all profession
. and occupations, and find them respected
and honored and successful. John Fred
!. erick Oberlin alleviating ignorance an,
distress: John Howard passing from dun
' geon to lazaretto. with healing for the bod.
: and the soul; Elizabeth Frye coming t
the prcfligate of Newgate prison to shak
down their obduracy, as the angel ca ne +
. the prison at Philippi, driving open tn
doors and swapping locks and chains, a
, well rs the lives of thousands of the fol
lowers of Jesus who have devoted them
. selves to the temporal and spiritual wei
. fare of the race, and monuments Of tn
Christian religion that shall not crumbl
while the world lasts.
A man in the cars said: 81 would like {
become Christian if only knew wha
j religion is. But if this lying and cheat
ing. and bad behavior among men VIII
4 profess to be good, is religion, wont non
of it." But, my friends, il am an arts
in Rome, and a man comes to me and ask
what the art of painting is, I must nc
show him the daub Of some pretender.
;. will take him to the Raphaels and th
4 Michael Angeles. 1t is most unfair an
dishonest to take the ignOm inious failure
in Christian profession instead of til
L glorious successes. The Bible and til
church are great picture galleries, file
:. with masterpieces.
g Furthermore, We learn from this story I
Joseph that the result Of persecution
alienation. Had it not been for his bein
sold into Egyptian bondage by h
l. mali cious brothers and his false imprisol
&c ment, Joseph never would have becon
,e Prime Minister. Everybody accepts Il
n promise:
Blessed are they that arc prosecuted 4
righteousness sake, for theirs il the kingdo